Methods and apparatuses for controlling distribution of location information

Abstract

A mobile system, such as a wireless phone, communicates its location or other position information, such as pseudoranges, to a server system and optionally sends permission criteria defining which other mobile systems are allowed to access its location. In the case where the mobile system does not provide its location, the server determines the location using the other position information provided (e.g. pseudoranges for satellites in view of the mobile system). The server system sends the location to other mobile systems in accordance with the permission criteria, with or without a request from another mobile system for the location. If no permission criteria has been sent by the mobile system, the server system queries the mobile system for the permission criteria in response to a request for the location. If no permission criteria is sent by the mobile system, or if the permission criteria sent denies the request, the server system can, alternately, not reply to the request or reply with an error message. The permission criteria can include additional access limitations such as dates or times during which access is permitted or denied, and geographic areas in which access is permitted or denied.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for communicating a location for a mobile system comprising: 
 obtaining a location for a first mobile system;    obtaining permission criteria associated with the first mobile system; and    transmitting the location for the first mobile system to a second mobile system in accordance with the permission criteria.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the location is transmitted in response to a request from the second mobile system for the location of the first mobile system.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the permission criteria is obtained from the first mobile system in response to the request from the second mobile system.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the permission criteria is obtained from a stored list of permission criteria associated with the first user and wherein said first mobile system comprises a satellite positioning system receiver.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the permission criteria is selectively set by a user of the first mobile system and can be changed by the user.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the permission criteria specifies when the location for the first mobile system can be transmitted to the second mobile system.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the permission criteria specifies an area within which locations for the first mobile system can be transmitted to the second mobile system.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first mobile system comprises a position location system that determines position information for the first mobile system and further comprises a communication transmitter that transmits the position information.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein obtaining a location for a first mobile system comprises deriving the location from the position information transmitted by the first mobile system.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 receiving a request for the location of the first mobile system from a third mobile system;    attempting to obtain permission criteria pertaining to the third user; and    denying the request from the third mobile system as a result of the attempt.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the request from the third mobile system is denied when there is no permission criteria pertaining to the third user.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the request from the third mobile system is denied in accordance with the obtained permission criteria.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein attempting to obtain the permission criteria comprises searching a stored list of permission criteria associated with the first user.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein attempting to obtain the permission criteria comprises requesting the permission criteria from the first mobile system.  
     
     
         15 . A communications system for locating a mobile system comprising: 
 a first mobile system operable for connecting to a network and for sending position information for the first mobile system and a permission criteria associated with the first mobile system to the network;    a server system operable for connecting to the network, for receiving the position information and permission criteria associated with the first mobile system from the network, and for sending a location of the first mobile system derived from the position information to the network in accordance with the permission criteria; and    a second mobile system operable for connecting to the network and for receiving the location of the first mobile system sent by the server system from the network.    
     
     
         16 . The communications system of  claim 15 , wherein the server system is further operable for storing the permission criteria associated with the first mobile system in a permanent medium.  
     
     
         17 . The communications system of  claim 15 , wherein the second mobile system is further operable for sending a request for the location of the first mobile system to the network.  
     
     
         18 . The communications system of  claim 17 , wherein the server system is further operable for receiving the request from the network and for evaluating the permission criteria pertaining to the second mobile system.  
     
     
         19 . The communications system of  claim 17 , wherein the server system is further operable for sending an error message to the network when the permission criteria does not permit the location of the first mobile system to be sent to the second mobile system, and wherein the second mobile system is further operable for receiving the error message from the network.  
     
     
         20 . A mobile communications system comprising: 
 a processor coupled to a memory and further operable for connecting to a network;    a communication process executed by the processor from the memory to cause the processor to send position information for the mobile communications system to the network and to further cause the processor to send a permission criteria pertaining to another mobile communications system to the network.    
     
     
         21 . The mobile communications system of  claim 20 , wherein the communication process further causes the processor to receive a query for the permission criteria pertaining to another mobile communications system from the network.  
     
     
         22 . The mobile communications system of  claim 20 , wherein the communication process further causes the processor to send a query for a location of another mobile communications system to the network and to receive a response to the query from the network.  
     
     
         23 . The mobile communications system of  claim 20 , wherein the communication process further causes the processor to receive a location for another mobile communications system from the network.  
     
     
         24 . A server system comprising: 
 a processor coupled to a system bus and further operable for connecting to a network;    a memory coupled to the processor through the system bus; and    a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor through the system bus and having stored thereon a location service,    wherein execution of the location service by the processor causes the processor to receive position information for a mobile system and a permission criteria associated with the mobile system from the network, to derive a location for the first mobile system from the position information, and to send the location for the mobile system to the network.    
     
     
         25 . The server system of  claim 24 , wherein the location service further causes the processor to store the permission criteria associated with the mobile on the computer-readable medium.  
     
     
         26 . The server system of  claim 24 , wherein the location service further causes the processor to receive a request for the location of the mobile system from the network, and to evaluate the permission criteria to determine whether to send the location for the mobile system to the network in response to the request.  
     
     
         27 . The server system of  claim 24 , wherein the location service further causes the processor to send a request for the permission criteria to the network.  
     
     
         28 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause a server system and a mobile communications system to perform a method comprising: 
 sending, by the mobile communication system to the server system, position information for the mobile communications system;    receiving, by the server system, the position information;    sending, by the server system to a different mobile communications system, a location derived from the position information in accordance with a permission criteria for the different mobile communications system.    
     
     
         29 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 sending, by the mobile communication system to the server system, the permission criteria associated with the mobile communications system; and    receiving, by the server system, the permission criteria.    
     
     
         30 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 receiving, by the server system from the different mobile communications system, a request for the location.    
     
     
         31 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 sending, by the server system to the mobile communications system, a query for the permission criteria.    
     
     
         32 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a permissions criteria data structure comprising: 
 an owner identifier field containing data representing an identifier for a first mobile communications system that owns the permissions criteria data structure; and    a requester entry containing data representing permissions granted to a second mobile communications system by the first mobile communications system identified by the owner identifier field.    
     
     
         33 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 32 , wherein the requester entry comprises: 
 a requestor identifier field containing data representing an identifier for the second mobile communications system.    
     
     
         34 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 33 , wherein the requester entry further comprises: 
 an area criteria field containing data representing a geographic area specified by the first mobile communications system.    
     
     
         35 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 33 , wherein the requester entry further comprises: 
 a time criteria field containing data representing a time period specified by the first mobile communications system.    
     
     
         36 . A method of obtaining payment for supplying location services to mobile communications systems comprising: 
 recording each request for a location received from a first mobile communications system based on an identifier for the first mobile communications system;    recording each permission criteria sent from a second mobile communications system based on an identifier for the second mobile communications system; and    charging the first and second mobile communications systems a first rate for the requests received and a second rate for the criteria sent.    
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the first and second mobile communications systems are the same system.  
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the first and second rates are charged to the second mobile communications system.